Craig Calcaterra returns to talk All-Star Game Ennui, Enjoyable MLB 2021 surprises and disappointments, Richard Donner’s “Superman,” and much more. Plus tales of bad knees and collapsing teams in both baseball and the larger world.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Mourning Ronald Acuna’s Knee and Other Things as Well*The Orioles, the Astros, and the Danger of Deferred Maintenance*Craig Calcaterra: “Swell” and “Superman: The Movie”*The All-Star Game Blahs*Are We Over Validation by Authority Figures?*The Rural Purge*When Good Teams Go Bad It’s Wonderful*The Giants, “The A-Team,” and a Team That Can’t Repeat*Aged Tigers*The 2021 Yankees*Kevin Maas Syndrome*Ruth Kapelis on Trevor Bauer*On Consent*What Kind of Person?*The Morals Clause*”The Goose Man”*Goodbyes.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?